The Vampire Story
by clockwork starlight
Summary: Modern AU.  Halloween fic. With the vampire cliche being thrown in and stomped on. And Sasuke in costumes. Vaguely SasuHina.
1. Sasuke Uchiha age 6

Started writing this pretty much immediately after that other update. Apparently I like to give myself unreasonable deadlines. I am, after all, an unreasonable person. I don't own Naruto and I make no money out of abusing the franchise. I don't even get any candy.

And since the formatting would be a pain in the sass, the song selection for this evening is... _  
>Human<em> by Ellie Goulding

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><p>Sasuke is a vampire tonight. Only because he liked the cape. The teeth were annoying, so those are on the counter in the kitchen where his mother gave up and left them. He spreads his cape in satisfaction and lets her snap another picture.<br>His father is determinedly watching the game, but he does ask Itachi, in his best disapproving voice, if he isn't too old to go trick-or-treating. Itachi pulls down his ninja mask and says quite simply: no. Their mother tries one last time to get Itachi to wear his glasses, even if they do mess up his costume. She receives the same answer.  
>The doorbell rings and even in the living room they can all hear Naruto screaming 'trick-or-treat!'.<br>Mrs. Uzumaki-Namikaze, for she refused to marry if she could not hyphenate, is not at all apologetic for her son's behavior. She actually has the nerve to pinch Sasuke's cheeks and declare him the cutest little bloodsucker she ever saw.  
>Mikoto isn't sure what Naruto is supposed to be, dingo? fox? moldy log? but she knows better than to suggest Kushina can not sew to save her life. Kushina may be a proud mother and wife of a political figure, but she would definitely come back and toilet-paper the house in half a heart beat.<p>

Ten blocks later, Itachi walks into another black cat lawn ornament and Naruto is helping his mother find and eat all the Reese's they have. Sasuke trips over the fallen plaster cat, with its ineffective light-up eyes, and receives a hard knock to the head. He sits up without shedding a tear and rubs the lump as hard as he can.  
>When he finally feels better, he realizes he has lost sight of Naruto's mother's horrific orange outfit.<br>Maybe the it was the fall, but Sasuke doesn't even think about what his parents and teachers and assorted mascots have told him to do if he ever gets lost. Sasuke picks himself up and continues confidently down the road.

He gets just a little nervous about being all by himself; the dimming streetlamps only highlight how alone he is. He would have walked right past the woman in white had he not been getting tired and she sitting on the only bench in sight.  
>"Hello," she says, offering him a small smile. "Who are you?"<br>"I'm a vampire."  
>"So am I." Her smile widens and he can see points, like the awful plastic teeth that came with his costume. And her eyes are weird. Sasuke knows where to get cat eyes or red and yellow eyes; he saw them at the store. But she doesn't have a cape. She's just wearing jeans and a cardigan.<br>"That's a bad costume," he tells her bluntly.  
>"I'm not wearing a costume." Her smile grows a little more and all of her teeth are sharp. "I'm too old to wear costumes and go trick-or-treating."<br>"So's Naruto's mom, but she's trick-or-treating," argues Sasuke. "And if you're not wearing a costume, why do you have the teeth and the eyes?"  
>"I always have these," she informs him complacently. "Are you lost, Mr. Vampire?"<br>"No," he snaps.  
>"Okay." She waits a beat. "Are you sure?"<br>"Maybe a little," he admits reluctantly. "Did you see a lady dressed like a cone? With a fox and a ninja."  
>"Fox? Oh! I thought he was a squirrel, but yes, I did." She stands and holds out her hand.<br>"I'm not supposed to follow strangers." Sasuke tries very hard not to let his voice shake. He doesn't want to disobey this rule but he really doesn't want to go by himself.  
>"Well, if you tell me your name and I tell you mine, we won't be strangers any more, right?"<br>"Yeah." It makes sense. "I'm Sasuke."  
>"And I'm Hinata. Shall we go?"<br>Sasuke doesn't take her outstretched hand; he doesn't touch girls.

Kushina is about to have a fit, because no one knows when they misplaced Sasuke, but they did and Mikoto is going to kill her and Naruto has had too much sugar and she's pretty sure Itachi is one bump away from breaking his skinny little legs. When she sees the young woman with Sasuke, she lets loose a verbal torrent of 'thank you's and 'thank god's and more than a few made-up words.  
>Hinata lets her wind down before taking her leave. She gives the boys a parting smile and disappears into the shadowed streets. Itachi pokes Sasuke in the forehead and puts a handful of candy into his bucket.<p> 


	2. Sasuke Uchiha age 7

Just so you know, I might give you the tattered remains of my soul if you made art of this one.

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><p>This year Sasuke is Robin, because Itachi is Batman. Sasuke does not like the way the mask is digging into his face and he definitely doesn't like the itchy green tights; he wanted to be Godzilla. But in the costume store, Itachi said if he wasn't going to be Robin, he couldn't go trick-or-treating with the big kids. Shisui was going to be The Flash and Hayate and Yugao as Superman and Wonder Woman, so if Sasuke wanted to go with them, he had to be a superhero too. Mikoto waited patiently while Sasuke debated whether getting a cooler costume was worth going with the neighbourhood children and whichever parent was stuck taking them around. The thought of Ino, and Sakura tagging along behind her, as well as Naruto and Kiba for an entire evening decided him.<br>He let his mother put the Robin outfit into the cart, but he still doesn't know what's so good about their cousin.

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><p>The Yamanaka Flower Shop is known for two things. One is having a bouquet for any occasion. The other is for having a lovely wooden sign swinging above the entrance, hand-carved thirty years ago by Grampa Yamanaka. The sign had been painted a pretty shade of lilac, and it has aged quite well except for the curve at the bottom where there is a rather unsightly bald spot. Thirty years of boys jumping up and and smacking it whenever they pass by will do that. Both generations of Yamanaka think it adds character; Inoichi himself had more than a few purple splinters in his youth.<br>Between coughs, Hayate bets all of tonight's candy he can hit the sign the highest. Shisui is game, and after a second's pause he magnanimously includes Itachi, and his candy, in the wager. They nominate Sasuke to stand under the sign to see who wins.  
>Hayate messes up his timing a little and hits the sign too high. Shisui strikes it perfectly, and with Itachi only able to brush the the wood despite jumping as high as he can, he gleefully begins filling up his pillowcase.<br>"Hold it!" Yugao crosses her arms and scowls with irritation. "What about me?"  
>"You're wearing heels," Itachi points out.<br>Yugao looks at her red boots and then at the boys.  
>"You just don't want me to because you know I'll win." She peels off her shoes and kicks them at Hayate and Shisui. "Happy now?"<br>"Fine, but you won't beat me."  
>She hits the sign and the top actually thuds against the support beam. Her hand stings terribly but she has the satisfaction of watching Shisui's face fall.<br>When she turns to collect her shoes, she finds all the boys are staring up in alarm. The metal links have twisted and now the sign is stuck, bald spot kissing the overhang. Being honest souls, they try everything from kicking the wall to shake it loose to throwing Sasuke's pumpkin at it.  
>Itachi is about to climb onto his cousin's shoulders when Sasuke calls out to someone.<br>"Hinata!"

Shisui and Yugao explain, because the woman doesn't look like she would lecture them, and it is a great relief to confess. Hinata has to bend down to listen to their explanation, and when they are done she straightens and gives the sign a calculating look.  
>She just barely bends her knees to jump, but she manages to graze the edge of the sign with her fingers; it's enough to jostle the chains and let the sign swing back to its original position.<br>Now that they are out of trouble, Itachi, Shisui and Hayate crowd around Yugao to gush over how awesome she is, and maybe re-negotiate the terms of her win. Sasuke is the only one to see Hinata dig a chunk of wood out from under her nail.  
>She's got a ghost around her neck instead of a proper costume, but her eyes are the same, and Sasuke is pretty sure her teeth are too. No one has any garlic and making a cross with his fingers would make him look stupid in front of the other boys, not to mention it might make Hinata angry.<br>Completely ignorant of his dilemma, Hinata pats him on the head.  
>"Happy Halloween." She crosses the street seconds before the patrol car passes by.<p>

Sasuke doesn't see her again until next year.


	3. Sasuke Uchiha age 12

Does it still count as a cliche if I'm actively ignoring the hallmarks that make it so? Oh well, still vampire fic.

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><p>Since Itachi is in college now, Mikoto insists that Sasuke will go with her and the neighbourhood children or not at all. It's her turn to take them around, so it's not like he has anyone else to go with.<br>Sasuke has appropriated Itachi's old ninja costume, with a few additions weapons-wise, and he wishes it were enough to keep the girls from watching him. He is more than a little tired of them.  
>Ino is dressed as Sleeping Beauty; she explains this loudly and with very pointed glances in his direction. Sasuke thinks that if she truly was she should fall into a ditch somewhere and shut up. But he can't say it with his mother right there telling the stupid twit she is a perfect little princess. Naruto, who decided to be Robin Hood, is trying to show off his nonexistent archery skills to the irritated Strawberry Shortcake.<br>Sasuke decides his father is right and he is too old to go trick-or-treating.

Any other time Mikoto would not have bought it, but she just read a column that said the younger sibling always feels he must fight for his parents' attention and she must be careful how and when she argues with her son, because she might subconsciously be comparing him to his brother. So when all the other children are ready, she sticks a feathery witch hat on her head and ushers them out of the house with only one backward glance. Sasuke can hear the cries of disappointment fading with distance. He goes into Itachi's room and turns on his PlayStation.

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><p>Fugaku hands out candy with indifference, and when he finds the last bag is half empty, he calls Sasuke down and gives him twenty dollars and instructions to go get some more. The store is only a few blocks away, and Mikoto should have more faith in blood than books. When he was twelve, if his father had needed more cigarettes he would have been quite happy to walk half way across town, after dark, in the rain to get them.<p>

The only bags of candy left are the ones full of wrapped, round, colored plastic. The school admissions office has a bowl of them and Sasuke is quite sure they have never ever needed refill it. He takes two sacks, because the late-comers don't deserve decent candy, and he's not about to waste his time trying to find any.

Hinata is trying very hard to be polite, but she is finding it rather difficult to get the express lane clerk to accept that she does not want to sign up for a Club Card. She can't actually say that she doesn't have a real home address and she doesn't remember her birthday. She doesn't have a social security card and valid photo I.D. is absolutely impossible.  
>She must be very new. Hinata shops here quite often, because the night shift guard who monitors the security video was quite easy to hypnotise. It would be rather awkward if he noticed Nobody paying for groceries and he probably wouldn't have believed it. The disbelief makes it quite easy to insert little suggestions.<p>

She feels a familiar presence behind her as the cashier puts her purchases into a bag.  
>"Oh, hello." She tilts her head and smiles down at Sasuke. Not as far down as last year, he is pleased to note. Her bag only has a light bulb and a pack of batteries.<br>Sasuke doesn't know why, but he finds it much easier to talk to Hinata than any other female except maybe his iguana. He brought Chidori in for the class' pet parade, and none of the girls would get closer than a foot to him. It was great.  
>"Vampires are supposed to be able to see in the dark," he tells her.<br>"And ninjas aren't supposed to be seen," Hinata replies playfully. "So I won't tell if you don't."  
>The cashier grins indulgently at them. She thinks it very sweet of the girl to be playing pretend.<p>

Hinata waits for him to finish paying to walk out with him. They go a block together in friendly silence and part ways by the empty ramen place. She flaps her fingers good-bye before melting into the night, plastic bag and all.


	4. Sasuke Uchiha age 15

I don't know why I always try to resolve canon with AU, like trying to fit the fringe characters in similar relationships to the original isn't really going to push the story forward, and in fact trying to do this has been known to cause serious drama and hair-pulling. At least on the part of the authoress.

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><p>Sasuke is going trick-or-treating for the first time in years, because his friends, if you can call them that, are exceedingly lame. There are only a few people hosting parties and he is not invited to any of them.<br>Naruto is, but because he is such a good friend to Sasuke, more than the bastard deserves, he is dragging Sasuke out of his room for some real socializing. If he has to suffer through Sakura alternately making eyes at Sasuke and avoiding Karin's helpful pushes into oncoming traffic, so be it. Juugo's okay, if a little quiet, but Suigetsu creeps him out. He doesn't know how or when Sasuke joined the freak show, but being in different classes has done a number on their friendship.

Fugaku is not pleased, but Mikoto stares him down. If Sasuke is with Naruto, there's no fear that he'll be influenced by 'the wrong crowd' into drinking or drugs or vandalism and if that means trick-or-treating, well fifteen doesn't exactly break the record for oldest house-hoppers ever.

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><p>Hinata is admiring the moon. The wind swirls past, dancing leaves around her feet, and all the streetlights flicker out. She turns to greet the new arrival.<br>"Subtle. No one's going to notice _that_."  
>Hanabi sneers and snaps her fingers. The lamps come back to life, much dimmer than before.<br>"I came to see how your attempt at ahimsa is working for you now that the average peasant no longer keeps livestock. Neji brought dinner." She taps a freshly painted nail against her cheek. "Call it a gift from your clan leader and concerned sister."  
>A tall figure steps out from shadows around the library's unassuming plaque and shoves a dark mass forward. Hinata identifies it as a college student by the letterman jacket. His eyes are empty.<br>"I'm sure I appreciate the gesture, but I am not part of the clan and I _don't_ feed on the coerced," she says flatly.  
>"Well that's a shame, because if you don't, he's going to set himself on fire and burn this silly old library to the ground." Hanabi's voice is cold and lifeless. "Where will you play house then?"<br>She senses Hinata give in. "You don't _have_ to drain him completely," she offers, knowing it was never an option. She reads the silence correctly and rolls her eyes. "I'll fix him when you're done."

Hinata pulls the boy's collar down and drinks as deeply as she dares from his shoulder, knowing it has been too long. It is a little difficult subsisting on a diet of 'informed and willing' but she couldn't bear to do it otherwise. The eight puncture wounds bleed steadily; the hot blood drips from her chin and stains his shirt. She pushes him away as soon as she can.  
>Neji administers first aid while Hanabi breaks the spell on his mind. Without a word they are gone, leaving Hinata alone with her guilt.<p>

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><p>They tire of collecting candy after half an hour and end up hanging around the school parking lot until Karin suddenly gets the bright idea to crash Ino's party. No one has the energy to dissuade her. Sakura knows she was given a pity-invite, so technically she wouldn't be crashing and she does want to see Ino taken down a peg.<br>The fastest way involves cutting across the kids' soccer field and through the library parking lot. Sakura glances at Karin and her slutty high heeled boots. She probably got her 'sexy cowgirl' costume from the clearance bin anyway.  
>When she sees the grass, her lips pinch, but Karin refuses to be made into the whiny one. This was her idea, after all. She makes it all the way over the field without twisting an ankle or a single word of complaint, but she does scream her head off at the sight of a woman covered in blood.<br>When she sees the group of teenagers, the woman's eyes widen. She takes two steps out of the light and vanishes.  
>"God Karin, you're such a baby. That blood looked so fake." Sakura ignores the chill lingering on her neck.<br>"Yeah well, what the hell was she doing here?"  
>"Waiting for her drug dealer most likely." Suigetsu picks at his teeth. "Think we should wait around for him?" He elbows Sasuke. He finds out the hard way that Sasuke's silence has gone from his usual reticence to frozen hostility.<p> 


	5. Sasuke Uchiha age 17

In case you missed it earlier, the usual disclaimers apply and stick. I don't own Naruto, its characters and premises, ditto for the DC superheroes.

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><p>Mikoto doesn't know what to do with Sasuke anymore. The last two years he'd gone from one fight to the next with no respite between. He calmed down a little when Itachi came home, but not enough to justify making it a regular occurrence.<br>Fugaku wouldn't have stood for it any way. He hadn't expected Itachi to be so blasé about being kicked out of the house, though he really should have seen it coming. But once Itachi had to start working his way through grad school he had even less time to visit; any progress Sasuke made was inevitably lost.  
>Suddenly, a few months ago, Sasuke began doing the community service hours, obeying curfew, avoiding his trouble-making friends and doing his best not to get arrested. As far as she knows, he meets with Naruto at most once a week outside of school (which he is thankfully attending once again), so what he does with the rest of his time is apparently lurk around the library all by himself. Her husband thinks the sense has finally been beaten back into him, and Mikoto is tired of arguing.<p>

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><p>Tonight's contribution to society is taking a bunch of kids, the ones with single parents or no parents or utterly indifferent parents, around a few neighbourhoods and getting them back to the elementary school by nine. It's a school night, after all.<br>At 9:01 Sasuke is free. He doesn't want to go home, but he doesn't have the balls to go to the library tonight, considering what he might find.  
>He settles for roaming the well-lit streets, not sure if he's looking for something or away from it. In the end he finds himself staring at the woman in white, sitting on the only bench. Her eyes meet his for a short eternity and he knows if he keeps walking, if he doesn't stop now, he'll be home in ten minutes and she'll be here still.<br>She looks away first, fixing her empty inhuman gaze on some point in the distance, like she won't watch him running away.  
>He sits on the bench.<br>"That's a terrible costume."  
>"I'm not wearing a costume," she reminds him, still staring into forever.<br>"Running around like you're a real person isn't a costume?"  
>He can tell immediately he has hurt her feelings, and he probably should be alarmed he has upset a vampire. Instead he thinks it's hilarious.<br>"So how long have you been playing human?"  
>"I'm not playing Sasuke. And you shouldn't be either." She finally turns to look at him, and he realizes that she's actually kind of pretty. If you can get over the corpse-pallor and filmy eyeballs.<br>She looks a few years older than Itachi, but her expression isn't nearly as jaded despite the years she has on him. It's the first thing in god knows how long that has given Sasuke... hope.

"What do you do when it's not Halloween?" he asks, trying not to sound like he's too interested.  
>"The date makes no difference to me. I live the same way the everyone does, one day at a time. Well, one night at a time."<br>She's still offended, but Sasuke doesn't care. "I meant, is there some place you would be on an average Friday night."  
>It finally occurs to her that he is planning on meeting her again, and sooner than next All Hallows Eve. She suddenly finds him much more difficult to talk to than she did ten years ago.<br>Sasuke has the satisfaction of watching a dead girl's blood rush sluggishly to her cheeks while she stammers.


End file.
